Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Today we are starting a new online cooking group, the Cottage Cooking Club. As a group, recipe by recipe, we are cooking and learning our way through a wonderful vegetable cookbook written in 2011 by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, called „River Cottage Everyday Veg“.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a well-known British chef, TV personality, journalist, food writer and "real food" campaigner, known for his "back-to-basics philosophy". He is best known for hosting the River Cottage series, in which audiences observe his efforts to become a "self-reliant, downshifted farmer in rural England", his aim is to feed himself, his family and friends with locally produced and sourced fruits, vegetables, fish, eggs and meat.

The Cottage Cooking Club online cooking group is meant to be a project aimed at cooking more vegetable dishes, learning new ways to prepare tasty and healthy dishes and share them with family and friends.

We will make an effort to use as much local, regional, organic and also seasonal produce as is resonably possible. With that goal in mind, I prepared quite a few wonderful dishes from the book already.

My first recipe for the May post is the Courgette and Filo Rice Pie. For the filling of the pie you will need grated courgettes (I used yellow as well as green ones), long-grain rice, red onion, grated hard goat´s cheese, two eggs, fruity olive oil, some freshly chopped dill and flat-leaf parsley plus some freshly ground black pepper and sea salt. The pastry consists of ready-made filo pastry (I used ten sheets) and melted, unsalted butter.

This is a recipe with easy to find ingredients. We thought that this very delicious savory pie also looks pretty enough for company, especially when served in a nice baking dish.

Once the baked pie has had a chance to rest for a while, you can easily cut into it and serve nice slices to everyone around the table.

This pie is very pretty with the folded, crunchy filo sheets on top, it is easy to put together and we were very pleased with the way it tasted – together with a salad, this makes the perfect weeknight dinner for the whole family.

The second recipe from the book is Radishes with Butter and Salt, a colorful, time-honored springtime appetizer.

Eating radishes with salt and butter is not unusual around here and we always enjoy the peppery crunch of those lovely red radishes. Obviously, the fresher the radishes are that you are using, the better this simple dish will taste. I also suggest using a really good-quality butter and a nice salt such as Maldon sea salt or maybe skip the salt altogether and use a wonderful salted French butter.

And, of course, you could also vary the kinds of radishes that you are using.

The third recipe I prepared is the outstading Asparagus Pizza.

Once you have prepared the Magic Bread Dough from the book, you are ready to put this very seasonal pizza together in no time.

We really enjoyed the topping of buffalo mozzarella, a generous grating of Parmigiano Reggiano, sea salt, black pepper, some very fruity olive oil and the freshest regional green asparagus that I could find. A definite hit with the kids. Rather than make a free-form asparagus pizza, I chose to use my trusted vintage pizza pan and added a bit more asparagus than the recipe called for.

Now onto the fourth recipe that I prepared, this was my personal favorite one this month, the Spring Onion Galette, now there is a winning recipe.

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall comments in his recipe that „the spring onions should be just charred in places and slightly chewy on the outside, yet steamed-tender in the middle“ – that is exactly how the spring onions turned out to be. Once they were baked for a good 20 minutes at about 200 degrees Celsius, they just tasted like sweet perfection.

The base of the galette is a puff pastry.

And other than fresh spring onions, olive oil, pepper and salt, you will only need some tasty hard cheese. I chose a Pecorino Romano. A cinch to put together and such a delight to eat. The spring onions are rather bulbous at this time of year and while that look is rather pretty, it might be advisable to halve the onions before placing them on the galette – puff pastry is a nice treat and this galette is best enjoyed while still lukewarm. Love that recipe.

As a fifth recipe, I made the Quinoa with Courgettes and Onions. With the tender courgettes, the sweet onions, some lovely thyme from the garden and a bit of young garlic, this was such an unbelievably tasty salad. It does get even better when it had a few hours rest prior to serving.

The recipe calls for flat-leaf parsley, I used fresh basil instead and left out the pine nuts – my taste testers do not really like nuts in their salad – but other than these minor change, I stayed true to the recipe and really enjoyed it. Just remember if you are planning to make this salad a few hours ahead of serving it, you will have to taste for seasoning again just before serving, I ended up re-seasoning with pepper and salt and a lot of lemon juice – I also served some fresh lemon wedges on the side with this salad – it really tastes fabulous with a last-minute squeeze of lemon juice.

I decided to make some homemade pita chips with fresh chives for dipping and served freshly cut limes on the side.This was a very well-received nibble/appetizer and while the kids support some spiciness in their food, I made sure not to overdo it - we all agreed that this is a fabulous recipe. This guacamole is equally delicious as a topping for burgers and as a dip for oven-roasted potatoes and freshly cut vegetables such as carrots and celery sticks. It can also be served as an accompaniment to fajitas, along with sour cream.

You can make it chunky or smooth, according to taste. Whichever way you serve it, if you do make it in advance, do remember to sprinkle the guacamole with lemon or lime juice and cover well with plastic wrap because avocados turn brown quite quickly once they are exposed to air.

The seventh recipe is Roasted Aubergine Boats. I decided to serve these warm with some lovely cold, thick Greek yogurt and a homemade wild garlic pesto. It certainly never hurts to have another aubergine recipe on hand and we enjoyed the contrasting flavors of the sweet, creamy, chili-oil spiked roasted aubergine, the cool yogurt and the fresh, peppery taste of the wild garlic pesto.

Last but not least, I prepared the Asian inspired Stir-fried Sesame Cauliflower. Cauliflower is available year round, and we have been able to find some really nice cauliflower this month, making this lovely vegetable a good choice for the eighth recipe from this book.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall comments his recipe with the following words “cauliflower takes strong seasonings exceptionally well and this easy stir-fry – flavoured with chili, garlic and ginger – is a good example”. After taking one bite of this dish, I could not agree with him more.

This vegetable stir-fry is quickly put together and you can enjoy this as a full meal or as a side-dish. The cauliflower florets get a ten minute soak in cold water. The sesame seeds get toasted for a good minute or two until fragrant. In the meantime, you need to stir-fry some onion, two garlic cloves, chili and freshly grated ginger. Then add the drained cauliflower florets and continue to stir-fry. Finally, add the sesame seeds, good quality toasted sesame oil, low sodium soy sauce and finish with fresh coriander - although I took the liberty of adding coarsely chopped Italian parsley instead, as my dear family is not all that crazy about fresh coriander.

All of us really enjoyed this stir-fried sesame cauliflower – the fresh ginger and the chilies are wonderful in combination with the mild, delicate flavor of the cauliflower. It is true that this vegetable can certainly take some strong seasonings such as the soy sauce and the toasted sesame oil without being overpowered. This recipe seems to be nice variation on the other cauliflower recipes that I usually prepare. I also appreciated the fact that the stir-fried cauliflower florets kept their shape and still looked nice when plated.

Overall, we are extremly pleased with the way these recipes tasted and I am quite happy to report that this cookbook has become one of my favorites these days as the kids really enjoy the different dishes that I prepared from the book so far - it is truly a wonderful vegatable cookbook.

And I cannot stress enough that the recipes are easy to follow, with ingredients that are not difficult to find, making it a cinch to cook seasonally.

Please note, that for copyright reasons, we will not publish the recipes - maybe I can encourage you to buy this book and cook along with our wonderful group - we certainly would not mind some friendly company. For more information on the participation rules, please gohere.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

These are delicious savory homemade waffles laced with pieces of smoked salmon and scallions and served with all the trimmings (crème fraîche, smoked salmon, trout roe, and fresh dill) - they are quite an indulgent treat for a special day.

Although I am the proud ownwer of many a waffle iron (heart-shaped, Belgian waffle maker, crespelle maker, etc.), I cannot remember ever having made savory waffles before. We do not have the habit of eating waffles for breakfast around here. We ususally enjoy them with tea or coffee in the afternnon. Sometimes I prepare buttermilk waffles and serve some Canadian maple syrup alongside, or Belgian waffles with a yeast-based dough, or crispy crespelle-like waffles like my grand-mother used to bake but most often, I will make heart-shaped waffles with a light dusting powdered sugar, my kids favorite.

I decided to use my beloved heart-shaped waffle iron for this recipe and simply added a heaping tablespoon full of batter in the middle of the waffle maker - so I would end up with mini waffles, perfect for stacking them up and serving them as appetizers. It took a bit of time to use up all the batter, it did make a lot of small waffles, but once all the waffles were baked, I was quite enamored with the way these waffle stacks looked like - very pretty.

The batter is simple and very quick to put together, no rest period required either - all you need is plain flour, baking powder, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, whole milk, eggs, unsalted butter, smoked salmon, a few scallions, and chives. After I took a look at the recipe, I decided to omit the scallions altogether and load up on chives instead and to add the smoked salmon on top of the finished waffles, instead of adding it to the batter. I just did not want to have my precious waffle maker to have a lingering smell of smoked salmon and onions after making these. And, in the end, I believe the waffles taste better and look prettier this way.

These savory salmon waffles have a nice golden color and wonderful flavor from the chives. They turned out a bit crispy on the outside and soft in the inside. Perfect.

When they are all dressed up with that lovely and decadent dollop of crème fraîche, a bit of vibrant and salty trout roe and some wonderfully fragrant fresh dill - they are impossible to resist. With these toppings, they do remind me of my mini Potato Rösti that I usually dress the same way, or some buckwheat blinis.

To see how much the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group enjoyed this recipe, please go here.

If you happen to own Dorie Greenspan´s "Around my French Table", you will find the recipe for these lovely Smoked Salmon Waffles on pages 170-171.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

The radish is a plant whose edible root is used in cooking. The texture of the root is crisp and crunchy like a carrot and its flavor is hot and peppery. Among the most popular varieties are the small, cherry-sized common variety which has a red skin and white flesh. Radishes can be cooked or eaten raw. They can either be eaten with skins on, thinly sliced on a mandoline and be added to salads, marinated in vinaigrette, or eaten as a snack with a light sprinkling of sea salt.

Small white radishes (they are literally called "icicles" in German) can grow anywhere between 10 to 15 cm long. They might look like very young daikons but they taste very similar to the small red radishes. They are much milder and not as peppery as many kinds of radishes and they have a high moisture content.They can be peeled and enjoyed whole or can be cut into thin slices and be used in fresh springtime or summer salads. Around here they are available from mid-May until July.

Whether you are buying red or white varieties, you should always choose firm-skinned radishes, with no blemishes. If they feel soft, they are likely to be spongy inside.The atttached greens still should look fresh and perky, not wilted. The bigger the radish, the less crisp its texture, so avoid larger examples.

To increase the crispness of radish, soak them in iced water for a couple of hours.

Always prepare radishes just before using, as they lose their potency when cut.

You can keep radishes in a perforated bag in the fridge for a few days. Always trim the leaves off before storing, as they'll draw moisture from the radish itself. You can keep the radish greens in the fridge, wrapped in moist kitchen paper then stowed in a perforated bag, for a couple of days.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Yesterday, on May 16th, we participated in "Jamie Oliver´s Food Revolution Day 2014" – which has been so aptly described as “ a global day of action aimed to inspire people to get cooking (or baking) and champion better food skills for people of all ages”.

For the French Friday with Dorie group that means the assignment was a so-called "cook´s choice", meaning that the participants were free to choose one of the recipes from Dorie Greenspan´s cookbook “Around my French Table” and, in line with this year’s theme for Food Revolution Day “let´s get kids get excited about food", I chose the Corn Pancakes form Dorie´s book, a recipe we cooked back in June 2012 and that I have prepared many, many times since.

The kids love these little French pancakes, especially when I prepare them together with a tangy, springtime fresh radish-cress dip. So that´s what we prepared. Among other things.

We had a dozen kids for lunch at our house and there was a lot of food that we prepared and shared.

And there was lots of desserts too.

To see how much fun the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group had on Jamie Oliver´s Food Revolution Day 2014, please do click here.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Last weekend we attended a regional Sheep Judging Competition that was held at one of our favorite places to visit with the kids, an outdoor museum. It is just about a thirty minute drive from where we live, so when the museum holds one of its special events, such as Pretzel Day, Market Day, etc. we make sure to visit whenever we can.

On Sunday, there was also honey from the local beekeeper, who keeps his bees within the boundaries of the outdoor museum, as well as jams, jellies, syrups and other specialties to choose from. You could feast on grilled sausages or a special type of meatloaf ("Lberkäse") or craft a Mother´s Day gift using natural materials such as birch twigs, moos, and wood. But there was one product in particular that caught my attention, namely an organic Sheep´s Milk Feta in a salt water brine from a regional producer.

We really enjoy goat cheeses but we also are true fans of sheep´s milk cheeses. With its earthy aromas, a quality sheep´s milk feta cheese combines all the elements we admire in cheese - creamy, sweet, salty, and savory.

Sheep´s milk cheese is perfectly suited for a range of different recipes, and while the producer had a selection of recipes on display that all sounded wonderful, I was taken by the idea of combining sweet strawberries with the salty sheep´s milk feta. Especially since the first local strawberries have hit the markets around here and are quite delicious.

If you have run out of or if your store does not carry, crema di balsamico, here is a recipe how to make some at home. A fun recipe to have on hand anytime you are looking to add a special touch to a dish.

Crema di Balsamico

Ingredients

100 ml aceto balsamico

1 tbsp water

20 grams sugar

Preparation

In a small saucepan, combine the aceto balsamico, water, and the sugar.

Bring to a boil. Then gently simmer until the liquid has cooked down to half or your preferred consistency.

Let cool completely and pour into a sterilized glass jar or bottle and keep in the fridge until ready to use.

Different types of feta can be called in to perk up couscous, salads, pizzas and pastas. Or you could try recipes for lamb chops with feta and lemon or a classic Greek salad. Feta is traditionally made from ewes’ milk or a mixture of ewes’ and goats’ milk but now sometimes made using cows’ milk. Feta is either preserved in brine or oil and has quite a salty flavor. You can buy feta pre-packed in most supermarkets and it is also widely available ready-cubed in jars of oil, often flavored with herbs and sun-dried tomatoes. Feta holds its shape quite well so it can be carefully skewered and grilled or barbecued. If you want to remove some of the saltiness of the feta cheese, just soak the cheese in milk or water for a couple of minutes prior to using in a recipe.

It is always nice to be able to prepare food for the family using regional products and I can only recommend trying out new recipes using with what is available in your region. You might be surprised with the delicious results. This sheep´s milk feta, for example, has a wonderful mild and creamy taste, it is regional and organic – feel good all around…and the best part is that even the young taste testers were enamored with the combination of sweet strawberries, peppery basil, slightly salty and creamy feta and the sweet and tangy taste of the crema di balsamico.

Feel free though to use your preferred type of feta for this salad or add some other salad greens such as arugula – the dish will certainly be just as delicious with your individual adaptations according to personal preference and to what is available in your neck of the woods.

For more information on the producer of the sheep´s milk cheese, please click here. For more information about the outdoor museum, please click here.

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